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Review: Is The Hawaiian Airlines Credit Card Worth It?

The Hawaiian Airlines Credit Card offers some fantastic value for the first year, but becomes hard to justify past that point. The card has an unimpressive base rewards structure, giving consumers a 2% rewards rate on Hawaiian Airlines purchases, and 1% on everything else. The best airline credit cards, or even generic travel credit cards, will outperform that kind of earning in most circumstances.

Good For…

Bad For…

Anyone who can earn the 35,000 mile bonus

Long-term value

Those who fly with at least one other person, and can take advantage of the companion fare discounts

General everyday use, due to poor 1% rewards rate on all non-Hawaiian Airlines purchases

The best value for this card comes from the introductory offers you can receive. Firstly, if you qualify for the signup bonus, by spending $1,000 in the first 3 months, you receive 35,000 Hawaiian Airlines Miles. That’s almost enough to cover a full round-trip fare from North America to Hawaii, in the SuperSaver Coach fare class. Also, new cardholders have the ability to get a 50% discount on one coach companion fare, during the first 13 months their account is open. For a pair of travelers, these benefits can knock down the cost of a trip to Hawaii by half.

While the above bonuses are great, once they are used up, the card's value runs out. There are two bonuses that you get going forward. One is a $100 discount on any coach companion Hawaiian Airlines fare. This can be a decent savings, but only useful for those customers who fly to Hawaii every year. Even then, however, you will only be coming out $11 ahead, after the annual fee. At that point, you would be getting a better deal by shopping with a flat rate cash back card, such as the Citi® Double Cash Card. The other ongoing benefit of this card is the 5,000 bonus miles you earn each year you spend at least $10,000 on the card. The value of this bonus is approximately $50, which puts a significant dent it in the card's annual fee.

Bottom Line: The Hawaiian Airlines Credit Card is offers some good value early on, though becomes harder to justify keeping around after the first year is out.

Hawaiian Airlines Credit Card Benefits & Features

The Hawaiian Airlines World Elite Mastercard earns cardholders miles with the affiliated airline, each time it’s used to make a purchase. You earn two miles for every dollar you spend with Hawaiian Airlines. This is on top of the miles you would normally earn for booking a flight with the airline. Also, whenever you use the card to make any other purchases, you will be awarded one miler per dollar. Given we estimate the value of a single Hawaiian Airlines mile to be $0.01, that translates to a rewards rate of anywhere between 2% and 1%, depending on where you’re making a purchase.

Primary cardholder is eligible to earn a $100 discount off one coach companion ticket for roundtrip travel between Hawaii and North America on Hawaiian Airlines on each account anniversary upon payment of annual fee

Receive a one-time 50% Off companion discount for roundtrip coach travel between Hawaii and North America on Hawaiian Airlines

As a primary cardholder, receive a complimentary first checked bag every time you use your card to purchase eligible tickets directly from Hawaiian Airlines

No foreign transaction fees

There are two ways to earn bonus miles using the Hawaiian Airlines World Elite Mastercard. When you first sign up for the card, you are eligible to earn 35,000 bonus miles if you manage to spend $1,000 within the first 90 days of opening your account. That’s enough to book a one way flight in the Coach Saver fare between North America and Hawaii. We estimate this to come out to a value of approximately $475.

This card can also provide a single baggage first checked baggage fee waiver, on a Hawaiian Airlines flight. The terms and conditions for the card specify that this benefit is only available once, which is very limiting. Most of the best airline credit cards provide baggage waivers on multiple flights and passengers.

Companion Fare Discounts

When you first sign up for the card, you receive a one-time 50% discount on a round-trip coach fare for a companion – essentially a “buy one get one half off” promotion. Given that a round-trip flight between North America and Hawaii costs in the neighborhood of $900, we value this benefit at approximately $450.

Going forward, every account anniversary you will receive one $100 discount towards a coach companion ticket, for a round-trip flight between Hawaii and North America.

Both these benefits apply only towards Hawaiian Airlines operated flights, and not their codeshare partners.

How Does The Hawaiian Airlines Credit Card Compare To Other Credit Cards?

In order to get a good sense for whether this card is worthwhile, it’s important to consider it in the context of all other options. We matched the Hawaiian Airlines Credit Card against some other popular choices, to see where it shines or falls short.

As long as the destinations you fly to are serviced by Alaska Airlines, and you fly with at least one other person, its co-branded credit card will be a better value than the Hawaiian Airlines card – this includes flights to Hawaii. In the short-term, the Hawaiian Airlines card is still the better choice, but as a long-term card to keep in your wallet, the Alaska Airlines credit card shines. The reason for this is the companion pass that the former comes with. With the Alaska Airlines credit card, cardholders get a “buy one get one for $99” certificate awarded to them each cardmember anniversary - valid towards Alaska Airlines operated flights. This carries a lot more value than Hawaiian Airlines’ $100 companion discount.

Individuals who'd like a little more flexibility in their credit card rewards ought to consider the Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express. The Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express has an annual fee of $95 (waived for the first year). Though it's a hotel credit card, the reward points you earn through it are transferrable to over 40 different airlines. Plus, the card awards users with a free night award, which can well offset the cost of the card's annual fee. If you have no particular loyalty to Hawaiian Airlines, the Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express is the better choice.

When it comes to maximizing short-term travel rewards, there are very few cards that do it as well as the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card . The card comes with a bonus valued at $625, as long as you manage to spend $4,000 in the first 3 months of opening your account. The maximum potential rewards on the card aren't as high as the Hawaiian Airlines credit card. However, what you lose in maximum value, you make up for in usability. Chase Ultimate Rewards® points can be used on a variety of things, ranging from statement credit to being transferred to one of Chase's travel partners.

Compare The Hawaiian Airlines Credit Card Against Other Airline Credit Cards Based On Your Spending

If you wish to see how the Hawaiian Airlines credit card performs against other credit cards based on how you spend you can use our tool below. Input your estimated monthly budget, and our tool will calculate the expected 2-year net rewards for each credit card.

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Savings Through (Through 24 Months)

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2-yr Net Rewards Rate

The Net Rewards Rate is equal to the Rewards Value over two years divided by the total spending. The total spending is equal to the values entered into the tool and multiplied by 24 months. See the rewards Value note to see details on how it is calculated.

The estimates here are ValuePenguin's alone. They are not those of the card issuer, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuer. All estimates are based on the spend assumptions entered above (which you can edit).

Bonus Value

The bonus field shows our estimate for the value of the card’s welcome bonus. If the bonus is point or mile based, we multiply the total bonus points/miles by our estimate for their value to arrive at a dollar equivalent. We display $0 if there is no bonus or if the user doesn’t qualify for the bonus based on the current spending entered into the tool. All estimates are based on the spend assumptions entered above (which you can edit).

The estimates here are ValuePenguin's alone. They are not those of the card issuer, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuer.

2-yr Rewards Value

The Rewards value is calculated by adding together the rewards earned from charging purchases to the card over two years and any welcome bonuses (if applicable). They are then multiplied by our estimated point/mile value, with any annual fees (if applicable) subtracted. All values are based on our own estimates for the dollar value of any points, miles or bonuses earned using a card and on the spend assumptions entered above (which you can edit).

The estimates here are ValuePenguin's alone. They are not those of the card issuer, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuer.

Card Details

Earn 75,000 Bonus Points after you use your new Card to make $3,000 in purchases within the first 3 months.

Earn 6 points for each dollar of eligible purchases at participating SPG® and Marriott Rewards® hotels and 2 points on all other eligible purchases.

No Foreign Transaction Fees on International purchases.

Receive 1 Free Night Award every year after your Card account anniversary. Award can be used for one night (redemption level at or under 35,000 points) at a participating hotel. Select hotels have resort fees.

Enjoy complimentary, unlimited Boingo Wi-Fi on up to four devices at more than 1,000,000 Boingo hotspots worldwide. Enrollment required.

Estimated Rewards Through 24 Months

*The value estimate is calculated using ValuePenguin.com rewards point value.

Annual Fee

$89

APR

16.99%, 20.99% or 25.99% Variable

Card Details

Primary cardholder is eligible to earn a $100 discount off one coach companion ticket for roundtrip travel between Hawaii and North America on Hawaiian Airlines on each account anniversary upon payment of annual fee

Receive a one-time 50% Off companion discount for roundtrip coach travel between Hawaii and North America on Hawaiian Airlines

As a primary cardholder, receive a complimentary first checked bag every time you use your card to purchase eligible tickets directly from Hawaiian Airlines

No foreign transaction fees

Comments and Questions

Opinions, analyses, reviews, or recommendations expressed here are the author's alone, and have not been reviewed or endorsed by the issuer. We may be compensated through the issuer's Affiliate Program. For a full list of our advertisers see our disclosure page

* See the online credit card application for details about terms and conditions. Reasonable efforts are made to maintain accurate information. However all credit card information is presented without warranty. When you click on the "Apply Now" button, you can review the credit card terms and conditions on the issuer's website.

Info about the following cards: Premier Rewards Gold Card from American Express, Delta Reserve® Credit Card from American Express, Platinum Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card from American Express, Hilton Honors Surpass® Credit Card, American Express® Blue Sky, American Express® Green Card, The Amex EveryDay® Preferred Credit Card from American Express, The Amex EveryDay® Credit Card from American Express, The Plenti® Credit Card from Amex, Blue from American Express®, Platinum Card® from American Express Exclusively for Mercedes-Benz, Bluebird, Centurion® Card from American Express, Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card, Starwood Preferred Guest® American Express Luxury Card, and Amazon Business American Express Card has been collected independently by ValuePenguin. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy.

Disclaimer: This content is not provided or commissioned by the credit card issuer. Opinions expressed here are author's alone, not those of the credit card issuer, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuer. This site may be compensated through the credit card issuer Affiliate Program.

These responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.

How We Calculate Rewards: ValuePenguin calculates the value of rewards by estimating the dollar value of any points, miles or bonuses earned using the card less any associated annual fees. These estimates here are ValuePenguin's alone, not those of the card issuer, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuer.

Example of how we calculate the rewards rates: When redeemed for travel through Ultimate Rewards, Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card points are worth $0.0125 each. The card awards 2 points on travel and dining and 1 point on everything else. Therefore, we say the card has a 2.5% rewards rate on dining and travel (2 x $0.0125) and a 1.25% rewards rate on everything else (1 x $0.0125).

Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the offers that appear on this website are from companies which ValuePenguin receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where offers appear on this site (including, for example, the order in which they appear). The site does not review or include all companies or all available products. For more information please see our Advertiser Disclosure.